I noticed the white driver tires as well. The 455 was in the middle of a rebuild when the end came so she never turned a wheel again. I guess someone decided during its last rebuild that there was enough spare white (or aluminium) paint lying around to spiff up the drivers. If the price today had been $50K in adjusted dollars I'd be on the way to the bank to get a loan.
I would have done the same for the $500 P-51's and P-40's (some as cheap as $50)in the same time frame. Speaking of P-40's, a scrap yard in New Zealand had several on hand right into the early 1970's when they were finally cut up. The remains of the one and only XP-51G were rescued from a flatbed trailer on its way to the smelter in 1975!
I'm sure you could find modern equivalents to all of these scenarios if you were to hunt around. Back then they were just tired worn out machines to most people, just like your old car, or computer...